In an article concerning the manufactured scandal that has erupted around the revelation that Wikipedia has overwhelmingly male contributors, Conor Friedersdorf questions whether it’s even worth bothering over the issue.
Writing that society is full of “gender disparities,” he asks:
…what factors determine when a gender disparity is something about which we should care? Is it a bad thing that there are so few women cab drivers? Or sanitation workers? Or floor traders on Wall Street? Or peanut vendors at baseball stadiums? Or corporate CEOs? Or congressional canidates? Or beer pong players? Or talk radio hosts? Or authors of economics textbooks? Or plumbers? Or online poker players?
[...]
There aren’t any barriers to entry blocking women who want to participate, there isn’t an ugly history of discriminating against women, being a Wikipedia contributor isn’t a high status position or a proving ground for other high status positions, the women foregoing participation aren’t missing out on career opportunities or sacrificing future financial security, we aren’t intuitively aware of the disparity, no one particularly complains that Wikipedia entries are biased against women in any way, a group of concerned volunteers could easily add articles on any subjects the mostly male club of contributors is missing…
It’s encouraging to see a writer with a wide audience questioning the relevance of feminist concerns. Perhaps it’s another indication that the uninterrupted trend of feminist success is coming to an end.
